Systems and methods for endpoint recording using a conference bridge

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for recording media communication. An exemplary method comprises the steps of: receiving an incoming call from a calling phone; routing the incoming call to a called phone in a contact center; transmitting voice communications associated with the incoming call via the calling phone through a conference bridge; duplicating the voice communications via the conference bridge; transmitting the duplicated voice communications via the conference bridge; and recording the duplicated voice communications.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is generally related to recording of communicationsignals and, more particularly, is related to systems and methods forrecording communication signals through a contact center.

BACKGROUND

A traditional passive tap recording technique includes recorders thatare deployed along routes of communications. In this technique, eachrecorder operates similar to a “sniffer” by analyzing pass-bycommunication packets. The recorder records the packets corresponding tocertain communication sessions based on its configuration. FIG. 1 showsa typical deployment of passive tap recorders in a contact center. In anIP telephony environment, recorders are typically deployed either at thevoice gateway, which interfaces between Internet Protocol (IP) networkand public switched telephone network (PSTN), or at switches in order tostay along the routes of the communications. This technique has theadvantages of (1) minimum intrusion to a communication system, (2) costeffectiveness in deployment for companies with centralized officelocations, and (3) easy scalability for compliance recording. However,for companies with many distributed branch offices, the above advantagesstart to diminish. This is especially true if the purpose of therecorders is for quality monitoring.

First, with the growing usage of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)technology, many telephony-based businesses, such as contact centers,are adopting distributed telephony systems with local access to PSTN,which are still controlled by centralized soft switches. Many contactcenters are using at-home agents with soft-phones on their personalcomputers (PCs). The distributed telephony system makes “recording alongthe communication routes”, needed for passive tap recording, difficult.Secondly, network security has now become a concern. The deployment ofencryption technology has made passive tap recording become even moreproblematic.

In addition, many contact centers deploy recorders for qualitymonitoring purpose, instead of compliance. In this regard, only a smallpercentage of the communications are recorded and monitored. However, toassure the accuracy of the sampling, communications are randomlyselected for recording across all branch offices. With passive taprecording, a large number of recorders will be required and eachrecorder will have very low usage.

A typical IP-based contact center using the passive tapping “sniffing”recording method is shown in FIG. 1. Two branch offices are shown in thefigure. To communicate with any agents at the contact center, a customercommunication device, such as a time domain multiplexing (TDM) or an IPphone, first sends communication signals to a call-processing device ofthe contact center, such as a soft switch. The communication signals canbe sent either directly to the call-processing device in case of IP toIP communications or via a media processing device, such as a voicegateway in case of TDM to IP. The communication network can be a PSTNnetwork or IP-based network. Once the communication signals have beenreceived, the call-processing device then routes the communicationsignals to an agent phone.

After several rounds of communication signals exchange, mediacommunications between the agent's phone and customer's phone canproceed via media processing device and distribution devices. Thedistribution devices are network routers and switches. In order torecord the media communications using passive tapping, recorders aredeployed at the media processing device or distribution devices usingthe network traffic monitoring or duplicating features, such as theCisco's Switch Port Analyzer (SPAN) feature, on these devices. Thesetapping features are often available to the recorders that are directlyconnected to the media processing device or distribution devices, namelyto recorders deployed at each branch office. Hence, a large contactcenter having multiple branches, such as a branch in New York, a branchin Los Angeles, and a branch in Chicago, may need multiple recorders ineach branch to record the voice communications.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods for recording media communication are provided. Anexemplary method comprises the steps of: receiving an incoming call froma calling phone; routing the incoming call to a called phone in acontact center; transmitting voice communications associated with theincoming call via the calling phone through a conference bridge;duplicating the voice communications via the conference bridge;transmitting the duplicated voice communications via the conferencebridge; and recording the duplicated voice communications.

Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the presentinvention will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art uponexamination of the following drawings and detailed description. It isintended that all such additional systems, methods, features, andadvantages be included within this description, be within the scope ofthe present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the invention can be better understood with reference tothe following drawings. The components in the drawings are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearlyillustrating the principles of the present invention. Moreover, in thedrawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system for passivetap recording.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in whichmedia communication at a company can be recorded by an endpoint recorderlocated anywhere on an IP network connected to the company.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in whichvoice communication at a contact center can be recorded by a voiceendpoint recorder located anywhere on an IP network connected to thecontact center using a conference bridge.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in whichvoice communication at a contact center with multiple branch offices canbe recorded by a voice endpoint recorder located anywhere on an IPnetwork connected to the contact center using a conference bridge.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in whichvoice communication at a contact center can be recorded by a voiceendpoint recorder using a phone.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in whichmedia communication at a company can be recorded by a multi-mediaendpoint recorder using a media application server.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which bothvoice communication and non-voice media communication can be recorded bya multi-media endpoint recorder in a contact center.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram that illustrates an example of operation of asystem such as shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram of an embodiment of a system such as shownin FIGS. 3 and 4, in which a voice communication can be recorded using aconference bridge.

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram of an embodiment of a system, such asshown in FIG. 5, in which a voice communication can be recorded using aphone.

FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram of an embodiment of a system, such asshown in FIG. 6, in which a media communication can be recorded via amedia application server.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for recording communicationsignals without requiring recording devices to be deployed along theroute of the two end points of the communication. In particular, therecording of the communication signals can be achieved using a softswitch, a conference bridge, a phone, a media communication device,and/or a media application server.

Exemplary systems are first discussed with reference to the figures.Although these systems are described in detail, they are provided forpurposes of illustration only and various modifications are feasible.After the exemplary systems are described, examples of flow diagrams andsequence diagrams of the systems are provided to explain the manner inwhich communication signals can be recorded.

Referring now in more detail to the figures, FIG. 2 is a schematicdiagram of an embodiment of a system in which media communication at acompany can be recorded by an endpoint recorder located anywhere on anIP network connected to the company. Two branch offices 203, 206 of acompany may need to record communications between employees and betweenemployees and customers. Customer communication devices 223, 236 connectto branch offices 203, 206 either via an IP network 219 or via a PSTNnetwork 216, 233, respectively. The customer communication devices 223,236 can include, but are not limited to, telephones, soft-phones on handheld devices, or Personal Computers.

Recording device(s) 226 can be deployed anywhere on the IP network 219connected to the branch offices 203, 206. Alternatively or additionally,the recording devices 226 can communicate with mediacontrolling/processing/distributing devices 213, 231 in a secure fashionin encrypted environments, for getting communication events and forsending instructions. With the capability of the recording devices 226to communicate with the media controlling/processing/distributingdevices 213, 231, the recording device 226 can selectively recordcommunications in the contact center based on business policy.Alternatively or additionally, if a recording device is a cluster ofrecording devices, the recording device can communicate with the mediacontrolling/processing/distributing devices 213, 231 to select whichrecording device from the cluster of recording devices to record thecommunications for load balancing purposes.

The media controlling/processing devices control the communicationbetween customers and employees and between employees. The mediacontrolling/processing devices can include, but are not limited to,voice gateways, soft switches, conference bridges, and multi-mediaapplication servers. The distributing devices can include, but are notlimited to, routers and switches. Based on static configuration orinstructions from the recording devices, the mediacontrolling/processing devices can duplicate and transmit on-goingcommunication between communication devices 209, 229, 223, 236 to therecording devices via the IP network 219 using its media processingfeatures. Alternatively or additionally, the mediacontrolling/processing devices can also instruct a communication device209, 229 at the company premises 203, 206, respectively, to duplicateand transmit any on-going communications to the recording devices 226using media processing features on the communication devices 209, 229.The operation of the system 200 is further described in relation to FIG.8.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in whichvoice communication at a contact center can be recorded by a voiceendpoint recorder located anywhere on an IP network connected to thecontact center using a conference bridge. As indicated in this figure,the system 300 comprises a contact center premises 301 that includes anIP telephony system 303 that enables communications between agent phones319, 323, 326 and between agent phones and customer phone(s) 329. The IPtelephony system 303 includes soft switch 306, conference bridge 309,voice gateway 313 and agent phones 319, 323, 326, all of which areconnected to a company network 316. Calls from the customer phone 329can be routed to a voice gateway 313, which can route the calls to thesoft switch 306. The soft switch 306 receives incoming calls and routesthe calls to the agent phones 319, 323, 326. The soft switch 306communicates with the conference bridge 309 via the company network 316.The IP telephony system 303 communicates with a voice endpoint recorder339 via an IP network 333. The company network 316 and IP network 333can include, but are not limited to, a wide area network (WAN), a localarea network (LAN), a virtual private network (VPN) and the Internet.

In this embodiment, the soft switch 306 is operative to send a commandto the agent phones 319, 323, 326 and voice gateway 306 via the companynetwork 316, instructing the agent phones 319, 323, 326 and voicegateway 306 to transmit voice communications associated with theincoming calls through the conference bridge 309 via the company network316. The soft switch 306 also sends a command to the conference bridge309 via the company network 316 to duplicate and transmit the voicecommunication to the voice endpoint recorder 339 using the IP network333. The operation of the system 300 is further described in relation toFIGS. 8 and 9.

Alternatively or additionally, the soft switch can receive instructionsfor recording the voice communication from the voice endpoint recorder339 via the IP network 333. In turn, the soft switch sends a commandbased on the received instructions to the conference bridge 309.Alternatively or additionally, the soft switch 306 can have capabilitiesof a conference bridge. That is, the soft switch 306 can duplicate andtransmit the voice communication to the voice endpoint recorder 339without using the conference bridge 309.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in whichvoice communication at a contact center with multiple branch offices canbe recorded by a voice endpoint recorder located anywhere on an IPnetwork connecting to the contact center using a conference bridge.System 400 is similar to the system 300 in FIG. 3 described above. Thatis, the system 400 includes a contact center premises 401, customerphone 429, company network 416, voice gateway 413, IP network 433, softswitch 406, agent phones 419, 423, 426 and endpoint recorder 439.

As shown in FIG. 4, the contact center premises 401 further includesheadquarters 403 that communicates with branches 443, 446 via the IPnetwork 433. The headquarters 403 can be provided at one location, e.g.,Chicago, and the branches 443, 446 can be provided at differentlocations, e.g., Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Despite the differentlocations of the headquarters 403 and branches 443, 446, a voicecommunication can be recorded to a single voice endpoint recorder 439using the conference bridge 409 and IP network 433. Note that theheadquarters 403 includes a similar system as shown in FIG. 3. That is,the headquarters 403 includes soft switch 406, conference bridge 409,company network 416 and agent phones 419, 423, 426.

Agent phones 449, 453 within the branches 443, 446 can receive voicecommunications from within the contact center premises 403 or fromcustomer phone 429. The soft switch 406 can send a command to the agentphones 449, 453 instructing the agent phones 449, 453 to transmit voicecommunication through the conference bridge 409 via the IP network 433.The soft switch 406 also can send a command to the conference bridge 409via the company network 416 to duplicate and transmit the voicecommunication associated with the agent phones 449, 453 to the voiceendpoint recorder 439 using the IP network 433. The operation of thesystem 400 will also be described in greater detail in relation to FIGS.8 and 9.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in whichvoice communication at a contact center can be recorded by a voiceendpoint recorder using an agent's phone. The agent's phone can be an IPphone that can be an IP based hardware phone or an IP based soft phonerunning on an agent's personal computer. The system 500 is similar tothe system 300 in FIG. 3 described above. That is, the system 500includes a contact center premises 501, customer phone 529, companynetwork 516, IP network 533, voice gateway 513, and endpoint recorder539.

As in FIG. 5, the soft switch 506 manages incoming calls and routes theincoming calls to agent phones 519, 523, 526 via the company network516. The soft switch 506 communicates with the agent phones 519, 523,526 to determine whether the agent phones can duplicate and transmitvoice communications to an endpoint recorder 539. If the agent phoneshave the capability, the soft switch 506 instructs the agent phones 519,523, 526 via the company network 516 to duplicate and transmit voicecommunications associated with the incoming calls to the endpointrecorder 539 using the IP network 533. Alternatively or additionally,the soft switch 506 can receive instructions for recording the voicecommunication from the voice endpoint recorder 539 via the IP network533. In turn, the soft switch 506 sends a command based on the receivedinstructions to the agent phones 519, 523, 526. The operation of thesystem 500 is further described in relation to FIGS. 8 and 10.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in whichmedia communication can be recorded by a media endpoint recorder using amedia application server. The media communications can include, but arenot limited to, audio, video, and text communications. The system 600comprises a company premises 601 and a customer premises 626 thatincludes a media communication device 629. The media communications fromthe media communication device 629 can be routed to a media applicationserver 609. The media application server 609 and media communicationdevices 619, 623 communicate with each other via a company network 616.The media communication system 603 communicates with a media endpointrecorder 639 via an IP network 633.

In this embodiment, the media application server 609 includes a mediacontroller 606 and a media processor 607. The media controller 606processes media communications, identifies the type of mediacommunications, and routes the media communications to mediacommunication devices 619, 623 and media processor 607, via the companynetwork 616. The media controller 606 can send a command to the mediacommunication devices 619, 623 via the company network 616, instructingthe media communication devices 619, 623 to transmit the mediacommunications through the media application server 609 via the companynetwork 616. Once the media application server 609 receives mediacommunications, the media processor 607 duplicates and transmits themedia communications to the media endpoint recorder 639 using the IPnetwork 633. Alternatively or additionally, the media controller 606 canreceive instructions for recording the media communications from themedia endpoint recorder 639 via the IP network 633. In turn, the mediacontroller 606 sends a command based on the received instructions to themedia processor 607. The operation of the system 600 is furtherdescribed in relation to FIGS. 7 and 10.

Alternatively or additionally, the media communication devices 619, 623can have the capabilities of duplicating and transmitting the mediacommunications to a media endpoint recorder 639. For example, the mediacontroller 606 manages the media communications and routes the mediacommunications to the media communication devices 619, 623 via thecompany network 616. The media controller 606 communicates with themedia communication devices 619, 623 to determine whether thecommunication devices 619, 623 can duplicate and transmit the mediacommunications to a media endpoint recorder 639. If the communicationdevices 619, 623 have the capability, the media controller 606 instructsthe media communication devices 619, 623 via the company network 616 toduplicate and transmit media communications to the media endpointrecorder 639 using the IP network 633. Alternatively or additionally,the media controller 606 can receive instructions for recording themedia communications from the media endpoint recorder 639 via the IPnetwork 633. In turn, the media controller 606 sends a command based onthe received instructions to the communication devices 619, 623.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which bothvoice communication and non-voice media communication can be recorded bya multi-media endpoint recorder in a contact center using a soft switch,conference bridge, agent phones, media communication devices, and mediaapplication server, respectively, via an IP network. The multi-mediarecorder 743 can include both voice and non-voice media recorders. Thesoft switch 706, conference bridge 709, agent phones 719, 723, 726,media communication devices 759, 763, and media application server 749communicate with each other via a company network 716.

In one scenario, for example, calls from a customer phone can be routedto a voice gateway 713, which can route the calls to the soft switch706. The soft switch 706 receives incoming calls and routes the calls tothe agent phones 719, 723, 726. The soft switch 706 communicates withthe conference bridge 709 via the company network 716. The IP telephonysystem 703 communicates with the multi-media endpoint recorder 743 viaan IP network 733. In this example, the soft switch 706 is operative tosend a command to the agent phones 719, 723, 726 and voice gateway 706via the company network 716, instructing the agent phones 719, 723, 726and voice gateway 706 to transmit voice communications associated withthe incoming calls through the conference bridge 709 via the companynetwork 716. The soft switch 706 also sends a command to the conferencebridge 709 via the company network 716 to duplicate and transmit thevoice communication to the multi-media endpoint recorder 743 using theIP network 733.

In another scenario, for example, the soft switch 706 can havecapabilities of a conference bridge, as mentioned above. The soft switch706 can duplicate and transmit the voice communication without theconference bridge 709 to the multi-media endpoint recorder 743 using theIP network 733.

In yet another scenario, for example, the soft switch 706 communicateswith the agent phones 719, 723, 726 to determine whether the phones canduplicate and transmit voice communications to the multi-media endpointrecorder 743. If the agent phones have the capability, the soft switch706 instructs the agent phones 719, 723, 726 via the company network 716to duplicate and transmit voice communications associated with theincoming calls to the multi-media endpoint recorder 743 using the IPnetwork 733.

In yet another scenario, for example, the media application server 749receives incoming non-voice media communications, identifies the type ofnon-voice media communications, and routes the non-voice mediacommunications to media communication devices 759, 763 via the companynetwork 716. The media application server 749 can send a command to themedia communication devices 759, 763 via the company network 716,instructing the media communication devices 759, 763 to transmit thenon-voice media communications through the media application server 749via the company network 716. The media application server 749 duplicatesand transmits the non-voice media communications to the multi-mediaendpoint recorder 743 using the IP network 733.

In yet another scenario, for example, the media communication devices759, 763 can have the capabilities of duplicating and transmitting thenon-voice media communications to the multi-media endpoint recorder 743.For example, the media application server 749 manages the non-voicemedia communications and routes the non-voice media communications tothe media communication devices 759, 763 via the company network 716.The media application server 749 communicates with the mediacommunication devices 759, 763 to determine whether the communicationdevices 759, 763 can duplicate and transmit the non-voice mediacommunications to the multi-media endpoint recorder 743. If thecommunication devices 759, 763 have the capability, the mediaapplication server 749 instructs the media communication devices 759,763 via the company network 716 to duplicate and transmit the non-voicemedia communications to the multi-media endpoint recorder 743 using theIP network 733.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram that illustrates an example of operation of asystem such as shown in FIG. 2. Beginning with block 802, communicationsignals are received in a contact center. In block 803, the contactcenter determines whether to duplicate the communication signals such assuch as by using the media controlling/processing/distributing devices213, 231, as shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively or additionally, a recordingdevice can provide instructions to the mediacontrolling/processing/distributing devices 213, 231 for recording thecommunication signals. In block 804, the contact center duplicates thecommunication signals such as by using the mediacontrolling/processing/distributing devices 213, 231 or communicationdevices 209, 229. In block 805, the duplicated communication signals aretransmitted to an endpoint recorder using a network. In block 806, theend point recorder records the duplicated communication signals.

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram of an embodiment of a system such as shownin FIGS. 3 and 4, in which a voice communication can be recorded using aconference bridge. Beginning with event 903, a telephone call can beoriginated from a calling customer or agent phone. If the telephone callis made from a calling customer phone, the telephone call is passedthrough a voice gateway, which routes the telephone call to a softswitch of a contact center premises. If the telephone call is made froma calling agent phone, for example, within the contact center premises,the soft switch of the contact center premises receives the telephonecall. In both situations, the soft switch routes the telephone call to acalled phone within the contact center premises and instructs the calledphone to transmit the voice communication associated with the telephonecall through a conference bridge, as shown at event 906. At event 907,the soft switch can instruct either the calling agent phone or the voicegateway to transmit the voice communication through the conferencebridge. The instruction to the called phone and the voice gateway caninclude an Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and the ports of theconference bridge.

At event 908, the soft switch instructs the conference bridge toduplicate and transmit the voice communication to a voice endpointrecorder. The instruction to the conference bridge can include an IPaddress and a port of the voice endpoint recorder. At event 909, thecalled phone transmits the voice communication to the conference bridgesuch as by using the IP address/port of the conference bridge. At event913, the conference bridge duplicates the voice communication from thecalled phone and transmits the duplicated voice communication to therecorder such as by using the IP address/port of the voice endpointrecorder. The recorder receives and records the duplicated voicecommunication from the called phone. Notably, the voice endpointrecorder can be located anywhere inside or outside the contact centerpremises as long as the recorder is connected to an IP network connectedto the contact center.

At event 916, the conference bridge routes the voice communication fromthe called phone to the calling agent phone or the voice gateway. Atevent 919, the calling agent phone or the voice gateway transmits thevoice communication to the conference bridge such as by using the IPaddress and port of the conference bridge. At event 923, the conferencebridge duplicates the voice communication from the calling agent phoneor the voice gateway and transmits the duplicated voice communication tothe recorder such as by using an IP address and a port of the recorder.The recorder receives and records the duplicated voice communicationfrom the calling agent phone or the voice gateway. At event 926, theconference bridge routes the voice communication from the calling agentphone or the voice gateway to the called phone of the contact centerpremises. Thereafter, the sequence is returned to event 909 so that thecalled phone can transmit the voice communication to the conferencebridge as instructed by the soft switch, as shown at event 929.

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram of an embodiment of a system, such asshown in FIG. 5, in which a voice communication can be recorded using anagent's phone. Beginning with event 1003, a telephone call is originatedfrom a calling agent or customer phone to a soft switch. In thisembodiment, a phone of a called agent (called phone) is assumed to havemedia duplicating capabilities. Alternatively or additionally, the softswitch can communicate with a phone of a contact center premises todetermine whether the phone has the media duplicating capabilities. Atevent 1006, the soft switch routes the voice communication associatedwith the telephone call to the called phone, and instructs the calledphone to duplicate and transmit the duplicated voice communication to avoice endpoint recorder. The instruction to the second agent phonesincludes, but is not limited to, an IP address and a port of the voiceendpoint recorder.

At event 1009, the called phone receives the voice communication fromthe calling agent phone or the voice gateway, duplicates the voicecommunication and transmits the duplicated voice communication to therecorder such as by using the IP address and port of the recorder. Therecorder receives and records the duplicated voice communication fromthe calling agent phone or the voice gateway. At event 1013, the calledphone transmits the voice communication to the calling agent phone orthe voice gateway. The called phone can duplicate its voicecommunication and transmits the duplicated voice communication to therecorder. The recorder receives and records the duplicated voicecommunication from the called phone. At event 1016, the calling agentphone or the voice gateway transmits its voice communication to thecalled phone. At event 1019, the sequence is returned to event 1009during which the called phone receives the voice communication from thecalling agent phone or the voice gateway, duplicates the voicecommunication and transmits the duplicated voice communication to therecorder.

FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram of an embodiment of a system, such asshown in FIG. 6, in which a media communication can be recorded via amedia application server. Beginning with event 1103, a mediacommunication can be initiated from a calling customer or agentcommunication device. At event 1106, the media application serverreceives the media communication and instructs the calling communicationdevice to transmit media communication through the media applicationserver. At events 1109, the media application server routes the mediacommunication to a called agent communication device and instructs thecalled agent communication device to transmit the media communicationthrough a media application server. The instructions to the agentcommunication device can include an IP address and a port of the mediaapplication server.

At event 1119, the calling and called communication devices transmit andreceive the media communications to and from the media applicationserver. At event 1123, the media application server duplicates the mediacommunications between the calling and called communication devices andtransmits the duplicated media communications such as by using an IPaddress and a port of a media endpoint recorder. The media endpointrecorder receives and records the duplicated voice communication fromthe calling and called communication devices.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments are merelypossible examples of implementations, merely set forth for a clearunderstanding of the principles of the invention. Many variations andmodifications may be made to the above-described embodiments withoutdeparting substantially from the spirit and principles of the invention.All such modifications and variations are intended to be included hereinwithin the scope of this disclosure and the present invention andprotected by the following claims.

1. A method for recording a communication, comprising the steps of:receiving an incoming call from a calling phone; routing the incomingcall to a called phone in a contact center; transmitting voicecommunications associated with the incoming call via the calling phonethrough a conference bridge; duplicating the voice communications viathe conference bridge; selecting one of a plurality of recording devicesto record the duplicated voice communications; transmitting theduplicated voice communications via the conference bridge to theselected recording device; and recording the duplicated voicecommunications at the selected recording device.
 2. The method asdefined in claim 1, further comprising instructing the conference bridgeto duplicate and transmit the voice communications.
 3. The method asdefined in claim 2, where in the instructions are transmitted from oneof a soft switch and a recording device.
 4. The method as defined inclaim 1, wherein the calling phone is located in the contact center. 5.The method as defined in claim 4, further comprising transmitting voicecommunication via the conference bridge from the called phone to thecustomer phone using the IP address of the calling phone.
 6. The methodas defined in claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the duplicatedvoice communication to the selected recording device is performed by theconference bridge using an IP address and a port of the selectedrecording device.
 7. The method as defined in claim 1, furthercomprising transmitting voice communication via the conference bridgefrom the calling phone to the called phone using an IP address of thecalled phone.
 8. The method as defined in claim 7, further comprisingreceiving voice communication via the conference bridge from the calledphone from the calling phone.
 9. The method as defined in claim 6,further comprising: duplicating the voice communication between thecalling phone and the conference bridge; and transmitting the duplicatedvoice communication from the calling phone to the selected recordingdevice using an IP address of the selected recording device to berecorded.
 10. A system for recording a communication, comprising: acalling phone being operative to originate a call; a called phone beingoperative to receive an incoming call, the called phone being in acontact center; and a conference bridge being operative to receive voicecommunications associated with the incoming call between the calledphone and the calling phone; the conference bridge being operative to:duplicate the voice communications via the conference bridge; select oneof a plurality of recording devices to record the duplicated voicecommunications; and transmit the duplicated voice communications over anetwork to the selected recording device.
 11. The system as defined inclaim 10, further comprising a soft switch being operative to instructthe conference bridge to duplicate and transmit the voicecommunications.
 12. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein theselected recording device is operative to transmit instructions to thesoft switch, the soft switch being operative to instruct the conferencebridge to duplicate and transmit the voice communications based on thetransmitted instructions.
 13. The system as defined in claim 11, whereinthe conference bridge transmits Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of thecalling phone to the called phone using an IP address of the calledphone.
 14. The system as defined in claim 13, wherein the conferencebridge transmit voice communication to the calling phone using the IPaddress of the calling phone.
 15. The system as defined in claim 10,wherein the conference bridge transmits the duplicated voicecommunication to the selected recording device using an IP address ofthe selected recording device.
 16. The system as defined in claim 10,wherein the conference bridge transmits voice communication to thecalled phone using an IP address of the called phone.
 17. The system asdefined in claim 16, wherein the conference bridge receives voicecommunication from the calling phone.
 18. The system as defined in claim17, further comprising: means for duplicating the voice communicationbetween the calling phone and the conference bridge; and means fortransmitting the duplicated voice communication from the calling phoneto the selected recording device using an IP address of the recordingdevice to be recorded.
 19. A system for recording a communication,comprising: a calling phone being operative to originate a call; acalled phone being operative to receive an incoming call, the calledphone being in a contact center; a conference bridge being operative toreceive voice communications associated with the incoming call betweenthe called phone to the calling phone; a plurality of recording devicesoperable to record duplicated voice communications; and a soft switchbeing operative to instruct the conference bridge to duplicate andtransmit the voice communications, wherein the conference bridgeduplicates the voice communications, select one of the plurality ofrecording devices, and transmits the duplicated voice communicationsover a network to the selected recording device.
 20. The system asdefined in claim 19, wherein the selected recording device is operativeto transmit instructions to the soft switch, the soft switch beingoperative to instruct the conference bridge to duplicate and transmitthe voice communications based on the transmitted instructions.